The Davison Lecture Series was named in memory of former Dalton resident Bob Davison. The series is designed to provide residents with quality local and regional authors and lecturers as well as offer an opportunity for an evening of pure enjoyment. Mr. McMurry’s presentation marks the conclusion of the Winter/Spring 2010 lecture series. The Summer/Fall 2010 series begins in August, 2010.
Dalton resident Richard McMurry is a Civil War scholar, lecturer, and professor. He is the author of numerous books on the Civil War, including Atlanta 1864; Last Chance for the Confederacy and The Road Past Kennesaw. McMurry has lectured extensively throughout the United States to standing room only audiences.
Richard McMurry is a native of Atlanta. In 1961 he received the B.A. degree in history from the Virginia Military Institute. He then served two years active duty in the United States Army at Fort Campbell, KY. Subsequently, he attended Emory University, receiving the M.A. degree in June 1964 and the PhD in June 1967. From 1967 to 1981 McMurry taught history at Valdosta (Georgia) State College. He was an adjunct professor at North Carolina State University from 1981 to 1988. Since that time he has been a freelance writer and speaker and has served as a guide/historian for many tour and cruise groups.
McMurry has authored more than 100 articles on various aspects of the Civil War. In 1994 two of his books – John Bell Hood and the War for Southern Independence and Two Great Rebel Armies: an Essay in Confederate Military History – were listed among the one hundred best modern Civil War books as selected by the eminent historian Gary Gallagher for the magazine Civil War.
The Cincinnati Civil War Roundtable says that McMurry “is considered among current historians to be the foremost supporter of the importance of the Western Theater to the outcome of the Civil War. He has appeared in Civil War history programs on television stations such as The History Channel. He is also active in the Civil War Preservation Trust and the Blue and Gray Education Society.”
The North Carolina Civil War Roundtable has said of McMurry, “When Richard joined the staff of North Carolina State University as a professor of history, we were fortunate to have him also join our round table. When he left Raleigh to return to his native Georgia, we made him an honorary lifetime member! In addition to his numerous articles for magazines and scholarly journals, Richard has written several excellent books on the Southern war effort, the most recent being Atlanta 1864: Last Chance for the Confederacy, in which he examines that campaign's major role in deciding the war's outcome. In Two Great Rebel Armies: an Essay in Confederate Military History, Richard compares and contrasts the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of Tennessee, and he takes on the youngest full general in the Confederacy with John Bell Hood and the War for Southern Independence.”
McMurry notes that his interest in the Civil War began early in his life.
“My mother was born in a house a short distance east of Cheatham's Hill (Cobb County) and not far south of Kennesaw Mountain. Many of her uncles, aunts, and cousins lived in houses west of Marietta on and near the 1864 battlefield. I still have several bullets, cannonballs, bayonets, belt buckles, and other military artifacts found on the farm where she lived as a girl. My parents encouraged my early interest in the war. In a very real sense my fascination with the Atlanta campaign and this book itself both had their origins decades ago in almost weekly trips when they took my brother and me to visit my mother's brother and his wife and children, who lived in the old family place.”
Richard McMurry’s Atlanta 1864: Last Chance for the Confederacy is one of the newest volumes in Anne Bailey and Brooks Simpson’s distinguished "Great Campaigns of the Civil War" series. The book provides a solid overview of the operations before Atlanta, while also describing the significant political, economic and social ramifications of the campaign that "made ultimate Federal victory, the abolition of slavery, and the end of the old nation order inevitable."
Historian Richard McMurry has focused much scholarly attention to the Atlanta Campaign. His Ph.D. dissertation, completed while a student at Emory University under Bell Wiley covered the first half of the campaign. McMurry subsequently authored a biography of John Bell Hood, as well as a comparison of the armies of Tennessee and Northern Virginia. His current book culminates more than three decades of study on the subject.
A reception in honor of the speaker will begin at 6:30 PM. The program will begin at 6:45 PM program. The reception is sponsored by the Friends of the Dalton-Whitfield Public Library. The program is presented free of charge by the library.
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